1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an instrument for keeping clear the upper respiratory passages, and for performing intubations, in which a tube which is to be inserted has its distal extremity moved as far as into the trachea via a passage acting as a guide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An orotracheal intubation is applied, amongst other applications, in cases of acute respiratory distress or air starvation, to establish an unobstructed respiratory passage through the tube inserted into the windpipe. To this end, the tube had primarily been inserted "blind" or "by feel" during initial application of this method. 0nly the development of different laryngoscopes led to the now customary method of intubation under observation.
An intubation by means of a laryngoscope may normally be performed without complications as well as comparatively quickly, by a competent physician. It is disadvantageous however that the patient has to be positioned in a special manner and that the physician must have freedom of movement at the patient's head. The preparations required for this purpose imply a commensurate expenditure of time. Inexperienced physicians moreover not infrequently encounter difficulties in inserting the instrument correctly and in making an "optical adjustment" of the larynx, so that injuries may for example be caused to the front incisors. Furthermore, the comparatively expensive laryngoscopes are not always available either. Finally, servicing and sterilising operations after use are finally rendered necessary on a regular basis by these instruments.
For this reason, attempts were repeatedly made in the course of time to discover appropriate methods of inserting the tube "by feel", although this operation has to be performed without observation. It was thus already proposed to insert the tube by means of a mandrel. This method failed to gain acceptance, however. Until now, only the transnasal intubation held its own as a tactile method in case of special indications, which however also presupposes that the physician has some experience of this technique and is unreliable in particular inasmuch as the tube cannot always be inserted into the windpipe through the pharyngeal cavity with identical precision and without the risk of injury.